Detroit Free Press Staff Reporter

'Kilpatrick Enterprise' trial coverage

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, his father, Bernard Kilpatrick, and his longtime contractor friend Bobby Ferguson were convicted in U.S. District Court in Detroit. They were accused in a conspiracy to enrich themselves by rigging City of Detroit contracts through the mayor's office. Kwame Kilpatrick was convicted on 24 of 30 counts, Ferguson was found guilty on nine of 11 counts and Bernard Kilpatrick was convicted on one of four counts. A fourth defendant, former water department director Victor Mercado, pleaded guilty to conspiracy during the trial and awaits sentencing.

For the second month in a row, Kwame Kilpatrick’s mom paid his $500 monthly restitution payment to the city of Detroit because the ex-Detroit mayor is broke, according to state officials.

Kilpatrick, officials said, has had trouble earning money in recent months for two reasons: One, he’s on trial in federal court in Detroit for alleged public corruption; Secondly, he’s got a tether on his ankle for a parole violation and can’t leave the state.Still, he managed to get his restitution payment in on time this month, thanks to his mother, the former Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick, who made the $500 payment on Wednesday.

“I think she’s been paying them the last few months,” said Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan, noting the state isn’t giving Kilpatrick any breaks on his restitution. “His parole officer has required him to make the payments. He has a large restitution to pay.”

Kilpatrick still owes more than $854,000 to the city of Detroit as part of a settlement he reached during the text-message scandal. He went went to jail for a weekend last month for failing to disclose almost $6,000 in gifts to state officials, including a $2000 cash wire transfer he received from a pastor in Chicago. Kilpatrick was caught on surveillance video at a Chesterfield Township WalMart counting the cash from the wire transfer, which was first reported on Fox 2, officials said.

The transaction led to a parole violation and jail time because Kilpatrick never told parole officials about the cash, which could have been used to pay his restitution. It wasn’t a first for Kilpatrick.

In 2010, Wayne County Circuit Judge David Groner sent Kilpatrick to prison for hiding assets and not being straight about how much money he had to pay his restitution.

Meanwhile, Kilpatrick is waiting for a verdict in his now 5-month-old public corruption trial – a decision that could send him to prison for up to 20 years. Deliberations entered day four today. Kilpatrick, his father Bernard Kilpatrick and his contractor friend Bobby Ferguson are charged with running a criminal enterprise through the mayor’s office to get rich. If convicted, they each face up to 20 years in prison.